engleski

Introducing EMI at a Croatian university: Can we bridge the gap between global emerging trends and local challenges?

Despite the increasing internationalisation of higher education and the spread of English- taught programmes, rather little attention has been directed to English-medium instruction (EMI) in Croatia, and higher education there is almost exclusively conducted in Croatian. The authors therefore carried out the first Croatian study into the attitudes of teachers towards EMI implementation, canvassing the opinions of teaching staff at Rijeka University. The findings suggest that although half of the participants feel competent to undertake EMI, the vast majority think that it could and should be introduced. While acknowledging its strengths such as international collaboration and improved communication skills, the participants also anticipate three key challenges, which could have an adverse effect on the quality of education: a) lack of resources, b) increased preparation time, and c) inadequate level of language proficiency. In addition, the participants express concern that EMI might jeopardise the development of Croatian. In order to meet the challenges presented, preconditions such as financial support, workload modification, and language assistance should be fulfilled. The focus on preconditions is not surprising given that in this particular context educational reforms (e.g. the Bologna Process) tend to be introduced rapidly and without adequate preparation.

higher education ; English-medium instruction ; Rijeka University ; Bologna Process ; attitudes

nije evidentirano